


Unspoken

by ry0kiku



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: College!AU, Dense Character, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, Tsundere Character, UKEsp, human!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 01:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6545269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ry0kiku/pseuds/ry0kiku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Arthur tried to express his feelings, and five times Antonio was left wondering. A socially awkward Briton and a romantically dense Spaniard, could there be a worse (better) match?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unspoken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pindanglicious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pindanglicious/gifts).



> Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. I own nothing except the pleasure in writing this piece.  
> This is a birthday gift fic for an Indonesian author, and so my end notes will be written in Indonesian.

The blonde, bushy-browed regular was here. He would arrive at the café on Mondays and Thursdays exactly at 4 pm, and would take a seat at the exact same table right across the open kitchen. Antonio recognized him as a fellow student from the college, but here at Armada Café, they were customer and waiter.

Antonio approached the seated customer, hugging the menu and his note, wearing his signature smile.

“What would you like in this fine afternoon, Sir?” He cheerfully inquired out of job description, despite already memorized his preference like the back of his own hand.

“Earl Grey,”

_No sugar_.

“—no sugar. And scones, with classic clotted cream,”

_And blueberry jam_.

“—and blueberry jam.”

Antonio flashed him his sunshine smile again as he bowed and ready to retrieve the requested items when the customer cleared his throat. The waiter stopped on his track, raising one curious eyebrow. Okay, that was new.

“Anything else, Sir?”

The customer muttered something under his breath, and Antonio craned his neck trying to catch what he said.

“Sir?”

“Nothing! Nothing, I said! I know that you’re busy with college and part-time work, I really understand! I shouldn’t’ve asked and… uh… forget it. Please. My tea.”

Antonio looked at him, puzzled, but decided not to push the clearly distressed customer. He flashed him an understanding smile before heading back to the kitchen. While reaching for the tea pot, he noticed the customer looked disappointed in himself while staring at something small (a paper?) he held in his hand.

Antonio wondered if he should sprinkle an extra powdered sugar on the scone to make the poor customer’s day a little brighter.

.

.

He knew what the content of the box left in front of his flat door was before actually opening them. It was the fifth time this month, after all.

True enough, it was another blackened charcoals. Only this time instead of big chunks or round and thin monstrosity, they were small and scattered like gravels. With medium chunks curiously shaped like shrimp. And they smelled slightly of… saffron?

Crinkling his nose, Antonio brought them in anyway, careful not to drop the smaller chunks (Alfonso would make him scrub the floor with a toothbrush if he did). He walked to his small kitchen and put the opened box right under the sink. He reached out for the previous box, took a satisfied glance at three dead rats inside, then dumped the entire thing in the trashcan.

If there was anything the charcoals were good for, was that they were even more potent by a hundredfold than commercial rat poison.

Antonio wondered if these mysterious charcoals were from some idiot who wished to poison him in broad daylight, or some thoughtful people who wanted to help exterminate the rats in his flat.

.

.

It was raining. And as luck would have it, today happened to be the day he left his umbrella at home. His older brother was at work, and their kind next-door neighbor Lovino already finished his class and left the campus three hours ago.

Antonio sighed as he made his way out of the classroom, silently cursing the supplementary lesson he had to take today of all days. Looking at how things were, he could either find someone to share an umbrella—someone conveniently heading the same direction he was going—or he could just brace himself and run back home under the pouring rain, while praying he wouldn’t catch cold or something worse. And it would seem that the latter would be his only option, looking at the grey, gloomy sky and near-abandoned campus building…

He swore he was this close to throwing himself to his knees right there and thanked the heavens when he saw a figure standing near the building entrance, an umbrella at their side. He half-ran to the figure and raised his hand in greeting.

“Hi there! Thank God there is someone here, you truly are a lifesaver! Do you mind if we share…”

His way-too-straightforward greeting trailed off as he finally got a good look of the figure. His jaw dropped and he pointed right at the eyebrows.

“Earl Grey and blueberry scones!”

“It’s Arthur Kirkland, you dork.” The blond hissed, his pale cheeks erupted in light scarlet. Antonio laughed heartily as he patted Arthur’s shoulder.

“I know your name, you’re a regular at our café after all. Though I must say this is the first time we ever talked outside my workplace. You aren’t in Management department, are you?”

The blond shook his head, muttering, “Architecture.”

Antonio beamed at the answer. “Wow, the same as Lovi! It’s a small world after all! How was he in class? Friendly? Cute?”

“He was… alright,” was the answer, but Antonio could see from the tone and frown that the answer was likely more ‘ _he was an asshole_ ’. He couldn’t help but smile. This Arthur person was cute. A similar kind of cute as Lovino, but a bit different in ways he couldn’t yet put his finger on…

“So. Are we going to stand here until tomorrow or get going already?”

“Oh, right, right! Do you mind if we share your umbrella? I kind of forgot mine.”

Arthur did not reply, he merely extended his umbrella-holding hand and made a small gesture with his head. _Cute_ , Antonio almost giggled as he took his place beside Arthur.

“So, what class did you have to finish this late?”

“Geometry.”

“Ohh. The same as Lovi! Do you have many classes together?”

The conversation—or to be exact Antonio chattering and Arthur grunting and looking away—ended when they reached Antonio’s flat. The Spaniard waved and said his thanks, smiling all the while. The smile that faltered into a frown when he finally realized.

He wondered why Arthur had stayed if geometry class was supposed to end more than three hours ago.

.

.

“So. In conclusive—“

“In conclusion.”

“Right. In conclusion, the company is advised to take precautionary measures—“

“Precautionary.”

“Yes, I wrote that!”

“No. You wrote precow… I don’t even know how to read that one. Give me the paper.”

Antonio passed his draft to Arthur, who wrote the correct pronunciation and passed it back to him with an unimpressed scowl.

“Make sure you did it right this time.”

Arthur was unexpectedly a strict tutor, but Antonio figured that beggars can’t be choosers. This paper was the last lifeline to save his GPA and he would go to hell and back to do it right. Proofreaders were kind of a luxury especially for average exchange students like him, so he was extremely lucky to nail one at the meager cost of a free lunch at his café. And it was an added bonus that his private English tutor was as cute as Arthur.

“I don’t even know how you managed to pass the previous three semesters without making your teachers’ eyes bleed.”

Even when he was spewing decidedly uncute things.

Antonio merely laughed, his default reaction to everything Arthur said whether it’s insult or… well, mainly insult.

“Well, I compensated for that with my smile.” The brunet grinned to prove the point.

Arthur clicked his tongue and looked away, muttering under his breath while fiddling with his scarf.

And Antonio wondered why Arthur bothered teaching him when he seemed to be suffering from fever, at least judging from all that fluster.

.

.

Being a policeman, his older brother had seen many strange things. But even Alfonso raised his eyebrow when he found out about the unsigned letters.

_“With prayers I began my day_

_Praying for your health and happiness_

_Before you look away from me_

_Walk away and leave me in the dust called despair”_

“Don’t you find this creepy at all?”

Antonio shrugged. “I find this quite romantic, actually.”

_“Maybe you will never realise_

_Just how easy it is to admire you_

_Maybe you will never know_

_Just how easy it is to fall for you”_

Alfonso shook his head, returning the letters to his little brother. He knew Antonio had a penchant for unconventional things (such as cooing over their clearly grumpy next-door neighbor and calling him _cute_ ), but this took the cake. So far.

“Just… find this secret admirer of yours. While it’s almost positive they’re a stalker, at least make sure they’re not a psycho.”

Antonio beamed and subsequently hugged his older brother, thankful for his blessing.

_“I am the one with expired concert tickets_

_With messy kitchen and ruined apron_

_With cold and sore feet in that rainy day_

_With crumbling courage as you sat there, so close and yet so far_

_Though you may never notice me_

_Know that I will always be there for you.”_

And wondered if he should tell his brother that he had a pretty good idea of who wrote the charming letters.

.

.

The look of Arthur’s face when he saw Antonio waiting in front of his classroom was so candid-worthy. And the scarlet blush that spread across his pale face when Antonio whispered his answer was even more so. Arthur had blabbered about public embarrassment and looked ready to flee, at least until the arm around his slender body and the quick kiss to his cheek stunned him completely. Antonio laughed heartily, hugging his awkward, blushing now-boyfriend.

The Spaniard didn’t come to love the Briton for his communication skills, after all. Or maybe he did, if the letters he kept in photo frames on his bedroom walls were any indication.

.

.

fin

.

**Author's Note:**

> Belated happy birthday for THE queen of UKEsp, pindanglicious! Maaf telat sehari (NYARIS dua hari huhuhu OTL), maaf cuma dapet satu oneshot nanggung AU pula, maaf gak pake bahasa tanah air tercinta berhubung muse sy lagi di bahasanya Art, maaf kalo OOC karena udah lama gak serius pegang ini dua sejoli, maaf--yah pokoknya sy dogeza sajalah #sungkem  
> Btw itu 'puisi'nya Art 70% terinspirasi dari lagu 'Pemuja Rahasia' Sheila on 7. Random kepikiran itu aja berhubung seringdiputerdikantorCORETudah terlalu butek buat mikir puisi dari nol :') #sungkemlagi  
> All in all, semoga dirimu menikmati birthday gift kecil ini dengan segala kekurangannya :')
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Ryokiku out :)


End file.
